Yellow Butter Cake Recipe & Video

For this Yellow Butter Cake
the two moist layers of cake are sandwiched together
and frosted with a smooth and creamy chocolate frosting. This is one of my
favorite party cakes and I often like to serve it with a scoop of vanilla ice
cream. I find children, in particular, like to eat it this way.

A
Yellow Butter Cake gets its rich flavor and yellow color from using just
egg yolks (not egg whites) in the batter.
The cake batter is made using the
'creaming' method where the butter and sugar are beaten together first and
then the egg yolks, followed by the flour and milk are added. It is quite
easy to prepare and you end up with a soft textured cake with a buttery
sweet flavor. Make sure to have the butter, egg yolks, and milk at room
temperature. We are using sifted cake flour, which means you
sift the flour first, then measure it. If you don't own a scale, then
spoon the sifted cake flour into your measuring cup and level the
top. Cake flour is a soft wheat flour with a lower protein content than
all purpose (plain) flour. This produces a cake with a soft and tender
crumb. You can make your
own cake flour. Three cups sifted cake flour can be substituted with 2 1/4
cups (255 grams) sifted all purpose flour plus 6 tablespoons (45 grams)
cornstarch (corn flour). For the milk, you can use either full fat (whole)
milk or reduced fat (2%). The higher the fat content of the milk, the
richer the flavor of the cake.

Once the cake layers have been baked and completely cooled, we are going
to frost the cake with a delicious chocolate frosting. This is the same
frosting I used to cover the chocolate, yellow, and brownie cupcakes. It
is made with butter,
confectioners (icing or powdered) sugar, vanilla extract and unsweetened
chocolate. I particularly like this frosting because it has a deep
chocolate flavor and it's not overly sweet. It's made with unsweetened
chocolate which is also known as
baking, plain or bitter chocolate. This chocolate does not contain sugar,
so it has a strong, bitter taste that is used in cooking and baking but is
never eaten out of hand. Ghirardelli and Baker's unsweetened chocolate can
usually
be found on the baking isle of most grocery stores, or other brands I
particularly like that can be found in specialty
food stores, or else on line, are Dagoba, Guittard, Valrhona, or Scharffen Berger.

In the bowl
of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the butter until soft and
creamy (about 1-2 minutes). Gradually add the sugar and beat until light and
fluffy (about 3-5 minutes). Add egg yolks, in two batches, beating well after each
addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl
as needed.Add the vanilla extract and beat until combined.

With the mixer on low
speed, alternately add the flour mixture (in three additions), and milk (in two additions), beginning
and ending with the flour.

Evenly divide the
batter between the prepared pans, smoothing the tops with an offset
spatula or back of a spoon. Bake 22 to 28 minutes or until a
toothpick inserted into the center of the cake just comes out clean and the cake
springs back when pressed lightly in center.

Place the
cakes on a wire rack to cool, in their pans, for about 10 minutes. Then invert
the cakes onto a greased rack. To prevent cracks, reinvert cakes so
that tops are right side up. Cool completely before frosting.

Chocolate Frosting:
Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering
water. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.

In the bowl of
your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the butter until smooth and
creamy (about 1-2 minutes). Add the sugar and beat until it is light and fluffy
(about 2-3 minutes). Beat in the vanilla extract. Add the chocolate and beat on
low speed until incorporated. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat until
frosting is smooth and glossy (about 2 minutes).

Assemble:
Place one cake layer on your serving plate and spread with about 3/4 cup (180 ml) of
frosting. Place the other cake layer on top of the frosting and cover the
entire cake with the remaining frosting.

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